


Have a Break

by trifoliumbaby



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, confused gay besties doing what they can, dramatic rich lesbian doesn't understand simple machine, just some silly gays for you tonight!!, lena doesn't know kara is supergirl, rated for the swearing that's all, this was intended to be a oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 17:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12635886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trifoliumbaby/pseuds/trifoliumbaby
Summary: This takes place at CatCo in season 3 on Lena's second day in the office, based off of some ridiculous headcanons with tumblr user weinzapfel that lead to a fantastic comic by lordsantiagoaz (': For any readers of Break My Fall this story isn't in the same timeline or universe, the title just.... has to do with KitKats in all honesty. I hope you guys enjoy ~





	Have a Break

“Lena! I was starting to get worried you wouldn’t show up,” Kara joked, hurrying over with the intention of greeting her best friend with a hug before pausing and opting to just stand and beam at her for a few seconds. It was hard to act professionally even _before_ she and Lena started working together considering she worked among friends at CatCo ( _and_ the DEO), but working with her incredibly gorgeous, incredibly smart, incredibly kind and totally platonic BFF already had her completely scattered. It was only their second day together, but Lena had seemed keen on coming in and having a sort of informal shadowing day to get to know the employees and familiarize herself with the office. To Kara it just sounded like they’d get to hang out all day, which she didn’t mind, she just hoped they wouldn’t get too sidetracked and make James worried about their efficacy as coworkers.

“Oh, I wouldn’t flake on you without a text,” Lena said, looking a bit frazzled as she strode to meet Kara. She had her purse on her arm, her tight updo unaffected but her coat a bit off kilter. “I just-”

“Oh my god,” Kara laughed. “Miss Luthor,” she said, her voice comically hushed and one eyebrow raised. “Did you...take public transportation?”

Lena flushed, opening and closing her mouth a couple of times. “Well I… is my ‘wealthy CEO takes the bus for the first time’ look as obvious as it feels?” she asked, laughing as Kara tried to give a convincing shake of her head. “Listen! I know that you take the bus and it really is better for the environment to use shared transportation rather than a Town Car every day,” she explained, fidgeting with her hands. “And since I’m going to be working here, with you, I thought maybe I should try getting to work the way you do. I’ll get the hang of it.”

“You’re going to take the bus every day? Just because I take the bus?” Kara clarified, somewhere between amused and concerned. Amused because the concept of Lena Luthor with her Diane Von Furstenberg sheath dresses and fancy coats sitting in a crowded National City bus was a bit absurd, concerned because if Lena was taking the bus to and from work every single day she’d be bound to eventually wonder why she hadn’t run into Kara yet.

Lena sighed, shrugging with a smile. “Maybe not _every_ day, but...you know, I’m giving it a go for now.”

“Hm....aren’t you worried about something happening to you? An attack or something? Lex? Your mother?”

“If anything I’d feel safer from my mother on a bus than anywhere else, she’d rather die than go near one,” Lena joked. “But I’m sure if anything happens to me on the blue line, Supergirl will show up. She always does. She’s...yeah. She’s lovely.”

There was a brief but admittedly awkward pause as Kara drank in Lena’s almost...adoring expression at her own mention of Supergirl. Despite all the leaps their friendship had taken lately, Kara had yet to come clean to Lena about her identity and it was growing harder and harder to stay quiet about it when Lena was so obviously enamored with the Girl of Steel.

“Yeah, definitely,” she said, hoping she didn’t pause for too long. “I’m going to go see where Winn is, I’m sure he’s dying to show you all the computery stuff he does around here,” she continued, looking back over her shoulder.

“I look forward to it,” Lena said sincerely, letting out a small breath of relief due to the fact that Kara hadn’t called her out for nearly swooning over Supergirl. “Oh, wait,” she said, reaching to place a hand on Kara’s shoulder before she walked away. “Is there anywhere I could grab a quick bite before we get started? The whole… bus thing took longer than I expected, I didn’t have a chance to get breakfast.”

“Oh! Right! We didn’t even get to the full tour yesterday, sorry about that. There’s...hm. Well if you want to go down to Noonan’s you can,” she offered. “I don’t think anybody will mind, James has meetings like, all morning so he probably won’t even notice,” she continued with a wave of her hand. “Just… could you stop at the vending machine before you get back and grab me a KitKat? And a Mountain Dew?”

Lena wrinkled her nose slightly at Kara’s request. “Kara, it’s not even ten in the morning,” she said, bringing a hand to her temple dramatically as her friend began to pout. “Soda and candy for breakfast? That’s what you want?”

“I’ll pay you back, I just need a little morning pep, you know?” Kara pleaded.  

“Morning pep is supposed to be coffee,” Lena said, unable to hide her smile. “But since you’re my favorite, I’ll get you whatever you’d like,” she added. “And don’t be ridiculous, you don’t have to pay me back. How much are KitKats anyway? Ten dollars?”

“You’re amazing,” Kara said, laughing and throwing her arms around Lena in a quick hug before pulling back with a huge grin. “Just text me if you need anything or you get lost or something, okay?”

“Sure,” Lena said, cheeks pink as she waved lightly and Kara scurried off to find Winn.

♡

Noonan’s was easy enough. Lena had been there before, it wasn’t necessarily her first choice for food but it was convenient and their breakfast sandwiches weren’t abhorrent. She asked for $20 in cash back so that she could get Kara’s soda and her candybar, assuming that the vending machine wouldn’t take cards. The only vending machine she’d ever used was at one of her own galas, and it was a Moët & Chandon machine with special coins so that her guests could purchase individual champagne bottles. Still, it really didn’t seem like the regular ones would be too different.

“Hm.” Lena regarded the first machine with a frown, taking a sip from her Americano and squinting at the little sticker of instructions underneath the keypad.

 

_Accepts $1 and $5 bills, quarters, and dimes only._

 

The drink machine had the same label, rendering the twenty in Lena’s purse pretty useless for the time being. As she was about to text Kara about her dilemma, though, Eve Teschmacher bustled into the CatCo lobby with her own tray of coffees balanced on one arm.

“Miss Luthor!” she squealed, doing her best to wave without jostling the drinks. “I didn’t take you as a...vending machine type,” she said, tilting her head curiously. “No offense, of course! What’s your favorite candy? So I can add it to my list,” she continued, strolling over to the machine.

“Oh, it’s not for me,” Lena said, shaking her head with a laugh. “I’m not really a fan of candy, I was just going to grab something for Kara-”

“Don’t worry, I can get it and bring it upstairs, I’m sure you have things to do,” Eve said, already leaning to set her coffees on the ground.

“No, no, I’ve got it. I just don’t have any small bills on me,” she said, reaching into her purse to grab the $20. “Do you have a few fives? Or just one, I didn’t realize how cheap these things are,” she said, looking at the machine again.

“Sure, of course,” Eve said quickly, opening her own wallet to exchange Lena’s cash for several $5 bills. “Are you positive you don’t want me to help with anything?”

“Thank you, and please don’t worry. I’m sure people are waiting anxiously for their coffees.” In truth, Lena just wanted to be able to personally deliver Kara’s morning snack and see her smile and maybe get another hug, a friendly hug from friend to friend after a friend did a favor for another friend… Something like that.

“Alright, I’ll see you upstairs then,” Eve said, nodding with a smile before putting her wallet away and scooping up her coffees before trotting off to the elevator.

“Okay, vending machine,” Lena whispered after a moment, setting her own things down and delicately nudging one of the $5 bills into the slot. She frowned as the machine accepted the bill halfway then spat it back out, smoothing it out before attempting to insert it again. “Come on,” she muttered, watching with dismay as the bill was rejected yet again. She flipped it over, fed it into the machine from both sides, huffed in frustration, then stuffed it into her purse in exchange for one of the other bills. After several similar attempts the machine finally accepted her payment.

“C5,” she murmured, carefully typing in the code for the KitKat bar and waiting anxiously as the little coil started to recede to drop the candy. The machine stopped and the candybar tipped forward as if to fall, but it didn’t move. “Shit,” Lena muttered, moving her face closer to the glass to see what had gone wrong. It looked like part of the wrapper had gotten stuck to the bar behind the one she’d intended to purchase and it was just leaning against the glass, trapped.

She checked the time on her phone, nibbling at her lip when she realized how long it had already been since she abandoned Kara upstairs. She drew her foot back impulsively and gave the machine a kick, hoping to shake the candy loose but only succeeding in hurting her toes.

“Ouch, damn it,” she hissed, moving her weight onto her other foot and staring dejectedly at the candy. “It’s because I’m a Luthor, isn’t it?”

♡

Kara turned her head in the vague general direction of the downstairs lobby, frowning slightly. She was pretty good at picking up Lena’s voice, especially when she was in distress. Pulling out her phone, she walked out to the balcony just in case she needed to rip her shirt off and go save Lena as Supergirl or something. As she scanned her notifications, a new one appeared. A text from Lena.

 

_I’m so sorry_

_You’re probably going to be so disappointed in me_

_What’s wrong?? Are you safe?_

 

She was immediately worried, thinking back to the conversation they’d had about possible bus attacks. Maybe Lillian had somehow gotten someone inside of CatCo to try and hurt Lena, or Edge had done something sinister. The fact that she still had her phone was a good sign, though.

_I did everything right, I put the money in the machine, I entered the code for the kitkat, but I must have missed something because it didn't fall down and I am just so sorry I understand if you don't want to be friends anymore_

_Lena stop being crazy!!!!_

_Is the machine stuck?_

_Of course I still want to be your friend_

_ily!_

Lena sighed with relief, glad that Kara didn’t seem mad. It just felt completely silly to not be able to buy a simple candybar from a vending machine in a building that she now owned. It was also a bit humiliating to take a step back and realize just how many parts of Kara’s everyday life she couldn’t relate to at all based simply on her own upbringing and acquired tastes. Even when they went out for coffee together or grabbed drinks on (rare) nights where they were both free, Kara’s choices always seemed shocking and unfamiliar. It would be more likely, though, that Kara’s tastes were much more normal and relevant and mainstream and it was herself who was making absurd requests, like asking if they served Dom Perignon at Chili’s. She wasn’t prepared to start drinking Mountain Dew in the morning or anything like that, but she decided she’d ask if Kara wanted to go grab some beers after work. As friends. Good friends.

 

_ily too_

_Sorry for freaking out, I’ll be back soon_

 

With a deep breath she eyed the stuck KitKat, resolving to get the soda first and then come back to finish the job. She scooped up the change leftover from the stubborn candybar and carefully inserted it into the soda machine, now completely monopolizing the snack and beverage situation in the lobby. If someone were to come in looking for some Cheez-Its, they would find a rather determined CEO muttering encouragingly to a beverage dispenser with her breakfast and purse strewn about on the floor. Said CEO let out a quiet cheer of success when the soda actually did emerge from the machine, wiggling her shoulders slightly in a small victory dance before smoothing out her skirt and returning to the other machine.

♡

“God, this is gold,” Winn said, laughing as he watched Lena Luthor wiggle around on the screen in front of him. Kara had asked him to check the security feed after Lena’s weird texts just to be sure she was actually still at the vending machines, but now he was completely enthralled in watching her struggle. “You know, we could like...sell this footage to Buzzfeed. Someone could make GIFs-”

“Winnnnnn,” Kara groaned, unable to tear her eyes from the screen. There was something ridiculously pure about Lena keeping everyone waiting up at the office just so she could bully a vending machine into giving her a candybar for her bestie. “You’re being mean! I think it’s cute.”

“Cute? It’s hilarious, Kara. Comedy. She’s built things a million times more complicated than a vending machine but she’s- god, look, she’s gonna try to shake the whole thing.” Winn burst out laughing again as Lena placed her hands on either side of the machine, trying in vain to get it to rock a little bit from side to side. She bent down, debating taking off her shoes for a moment to get better footing, but to Kara’s slight relief she straightened up and gave the shaking idea another try.

“It is...  adorable,” Kara said quietly, unable to keep from grinning. “She could have just… come back upstairs, or told me the machine was broken, Eve even said she ran into her and wanted to help,” she continued. “She just really wants to get me a KitKat.”

Winn snorted. “You’re weird. You and Lena are weird friends.”

“Best friends,” Kara corrected, shaking her head lightly.

♡

“Fuck it,” Lena said after her lack of success trying to shake the machine. _I bet Supergirl could get the KitKat bar,_ she thought, smiling slightly as she thought of those big, strong biceps. _Kara has really nice arms, too. I should ask her what she does to stay so toned, she really does have a fantastic body. And with her diet? She must work out like a fiend…_ She shook herself from her very nice and platonic thoughts about her two very good friends so that she could just shove another $5 into the machine, buy the KitKat that was stuck to the first one, and head upstairs. Her coffee was cooling rapidly in the air conditioned lobby and she already knew she’d have to reheat her breakfast sandwich anyway, so it would be best for everybody if she got going soon.

She had quicker success getting the machine to accept the bill this time around, feeling rather smug as she typed in “C5” again and watched the miracle of two KitKats falling to be retrieved. She put the candy into her purse along with the bottled Mountain Dew and her change, grabbed her things from Noonan’s and headed towards the elevator. For the duration of the ride she tried to think of the best way to ask Kara for drinks after work. She wanted to make it clear that she was interested in drinking _beer_ with Kara since it was what Kara often liked to drink, but she didn’t want it to come off like she was trying to be a copycat. Or trying to come on to her. She might have already gotten that impression with the bus-riding, though, and the whole ‘buying CatCo’ thing. Before she could come up with a clever solution, the elevator doors were opening and Kara was right there to greet her with a very guilty looking Winn.

“Sorry I took so long,” Lena said, tucking her coffee carefully against her side so she could retrieve Kara’s things from her purse. “And sorry for the dramatics,” she added, a slightly embarrassed flush to her cheeks. “I was just really worried I wouldn’t be able to get it to work.”

“Oh, no problem,” Kara said with a bright smile, eagerly accepting the snacks and gripping the soda tightly in her hand. “I appreciate it, you’re the best.”

Winn rolled his eyes, grinning slightly. “You guys are both… crazy. You are two crazy people and I’m the only one who sees it.”

“Well, maybe that makes _you_ crazy, Mr. Schott,” Lena retorted, lifting an eyebrow before turning her attention back to Kara. “Are you busy after work today? Want to grab a beer with me?”

Kara looked from Lena to Winn, then to her KitKat which she unwrapped quickly with her teeth considering her other hand was occupied. _It’s just like the commercials_ , she thought as she began eating, chewing slowly and staring off over Lena’s shoulder, _it’s the perfect way to stall and nobody even thinks it’s weird-_

“Kara?” Lena asked, a bemused expression on her face. “Beer after work? Yes?”

“Mhmm,” Kara mumbled, nodding quickly before swallowing. “Yeah, sounds good. I just remembered I have to go show Winn some work stuff for our… jobs. On my computer. I’ll be in my office. With Winn,” she said, flashing a smile before hurrying off with Winn trailing behind.

♡

“Kara, what’s wrong with you?” Winn asked quietly, his eyes wide as Kara sat down at her desk and finished devouring her first candybar.

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with _Lena?_ ” she responded, her voice low as well. “She’s being all… super extra nice to me. Do you think she knows something?”

“What? No!” Winn let out an exasperated sigh. “She’s flirting with you, dummy.”

Kara snorted, opening her Mountain Dew and swallowing half the bottle before speaking again. “Lena Luthor is not flirting with me, she’s my best friend.”

Winn raised his eyebrows. “So? I used to be your best friend and I’d flirt with you all the time. I mean, I’m still like, one of your best friends, but-”

“Oh my god,” Kara mumbled, unwrapping the second KitKat. “Is that why she’s taking the bus? And she wants to buy stuff for me even though she thinks it’s gross? Is that why she wants to drink beer with me after work?”

“You know, Kara, for a superhero genius you sure are missing a lot of cues here,” Winn said. “Of _course_ that’s why she’s doing all that stuff. She was acting like a fool down in the lobby trying to get you that candy when she could have gone across the street to Walgreens in the same amount of time and just bought stuff with her credit card and brought it back… she’s trying to impress you with how normal she is.”

“Lena’s not even gay!” Kara had convinced herself that all of the gay-seeming things about Lena were rather products of a sheltered and unaffectionate upbringing. It totally made sense that someone who grew up without any close friends or positive female figures would be really really really _really_ sweet and eager to please her gal pal, and that someone with lots of money would buy gifts for her favorite person, and go on and on about a superhero who she talks about more like a crush than a friend...

“Jesus, Kara… You’re really not gonna trust me here? I’m the one who figured out you were gay-”

“You only said that because I didn’t want to date you specifically,” Kara pointed out.

“Okay, that was part of it, but still! Lena gives off more of those...vibes than you do. You should talk to Alex or something.”

“I don’t have time to talk to Alex, I just ditched Lena and she might have asked me on a date!” she said, standing up and tossing her wrapper into the trash.

“You’re an idiot. Just get her in here and talk, I’m gonna go make GIFs of her for Buzzfeed,” Winn teased, making his way out of Kara’s office just as Lena approached.

“Hey, is everything alright?” Lena asked as she shut the door softly behind her, already fearing the worst. Maybe asking Kara out for beers specifically had made it sound too date-y and it freaked her out or made her uncomfortable. She knew Kara and Alex’s relationship was fine despite Alex being gay, but maybe it was different with friends than family.

“Yeah, everything’s great,” Kara said, licking the corners of her mouth to check for any residual chocolate. “Thanks again for the candy, my morning pep quota has been met,” she added, eyes following Lena as she perched herself on the edge of her desk.

“Yeah? I’m glad to hear it,” Lena said, taking a sip from her coffee. “Listen, about later on-”

“Is it a date?” Kara asked quickly before she could chicken out, peering down at Lena with a mixture of horror at her own audacity and hopefulness regarding Lena’s answer.

Lena was speechless for a moment, her heart thudding in her chest and her breakfast long forgotten to make room for the nerves coiling in her stomach. “I… do you want it to be a date?” she asked carefully, fidgeting with the cardboard sleeve of her cup.

Kara hesitated then, moving a bit closer so she could lean against the desk as well. “I don’t think I’d mind if it was,” she murmured, shrugging lightly and grabbing the Rubiks cube from beside her computer so she had something to do with her hands.

“Hm.” Lena sipped her coffee again, a smile on her face. “Then after work we’ll go on a date. But you have to pick the bar.”

“Then you have to call the car,” Kara responded, nudging her gently.

"Oh come on, a rhyme?" Lena laughed, though she was relieved at the prospect of riding in comfort for the night. “Okay, okay, deal.”

“Deal," Kara said, nodding with a smile and setting own her Rubiks cube to reach for Lena's free hand instead. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading ♡ If I didn't already have a story going I'd say I'm totally down to keep adding onto this one, but I do need to get on updating BMF. That being said, I want feedback on this as usual and will probably end up adding to it or writing more silly CatCo pieces in the future! xo


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